£25,000 Threadneedle Prize looks to resurrect figurative art and take on the Turner Prize

(Above) The Threadneedle Prize is looking to build on the success of its first campaign last year

Seven artists will battle compete for the second Threadneedle Prize after the shortlist for the publicly-voted £25,000 sculpture and figurative painting rival to the Turner Prize was announced.

Entrants include Middle World – a cement, bronze and steel "procession where life and death, joy and despair, light and darkness intersect" by Tim Shaw, who was also nominated last year – and an oil reconstruction of a New York Times photograph by 75-year-old Rose Wylie, the oldest of the finalists.

There's a graphic depiction of St Peter on the cross by Louis Smith, a nude self-portrait by Sheila Wallis, a "memory of colours" watercolour by Lucy Jones and a powerful, simple portrait by Jaemi Hardy. Each runner-up will receive £1,000.

"This prize is deliberately about restoring the primacy of the creative process based on observation," says Lewis McNaught, director of the Mall Galleries where Lauren Laverne will announce the winner on September 14.

One of the 2008 judges, Evening Standard arts critic Brian Sewell, called it "an instrument of resurrection" for a figurative discipline which he felt had been "betrayed" by the Royal Academy and left with "no platform for a quarter of a century."

The shortlisted entries will be joined by a further 80 selected works in a display at the Galleries from September 2-19, and a new £5,000 Emerging Artist Prize for artists aged 18-28, chosen by the judges, will also be revealed.

Exhibition admission £2.50 / £1.50 (free for under-16s).

A talk, YBAs are dead – What Next?, will take place at the Galleries on September 3 at 6pm. Panellists include Brian Sewell, Jock McFadyen and Bob and Roberta Smith. Admission £7 /£5, call 020 7930 6844 or visit the ticket office online